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johnmeyer · **Posted:** 17 May 2022, 04:42

I realize that this topic is a little out of date, but since I just fixed my CLD-3070, I thought I should post.

I had the same problem as the OP: the tray wouldn't open. I read all the posts, here and elsewhere, and definitely did not want to completely disassemble the unit and then wrangle getting the gear timing correct when I put it back together.

So, here's what I did.

First, I took off the top cover (four side screws, three back screws) and then removed the front cover (five screws on top, tip it forward, and lift out). I kept the front panel connected, but put it off on the side. Next, I powered up, pressed the "open" button, and tried to open it by pulling on the drawer. I could hear the motor straining, but nothing happened. I quickly turned it off so as not to harm the motor.

The next thing I did is why I'm posting.

I have a can of circuit board cleaner. It is amazingly benign to all sorts of plastic and electronic parts, but it still needs to be used judiciously. It does an amazing job of breaking down things like grease, simply through chemical action. I first put some paper towels under the gears. Then, using the long thin tube that comes with the can of cleaner, I lightly sprayed the cleaner on the gears, the gear pins, and also sprayed a little above the motor (the can at the front, just behind the door).

I then tried, several times, to get it to open. The biggest hangup was on the right side, where the mechanism rides up in a slot before it comes forward. I couldn't reach that with my spray without making a mess of things, so I just kept cycling the unit (STOP, then PLAY, then OFF). After 3-4 cycles, it started to unstick.

When the drawer finally opened, it was very slow and very noisy. Once it popped up, I was able to assist it coming out merely by pulling on the drawer. (Note: I learned that the main problem getting it to open is that it must first go up, guided by a nylon rail on the right side of the drawer, about halfway back inside the unit).

I then took a dry toothbrush and, with the paper towels spread out underneath inside the unit, and with the drawer still open, I gently brushed off a lot of dry grease. I also removed the three screws from the big circuit board on the right side (looking from the front) and tipped it up. This gave me much better access to the nylon channel in the middle of the right side. I used lots of paper towel pieces, wetted with a little 99% isopropyl alcohol, and cleaned out that white nylon channel. I never made more than one pass with a wetted towel in order to avoid making a mess.

Every few minutes, as I continued the cleaning, I plugged it in and cycled the door open and closed.

Eventually is opened and closed easily, but the gears were chattering horribly, probably because I had stripped off most of the lubrication. I then took some Lubriplate and, using a cut-off cotton swab (no cotton, just the stick) I applied a very small amount of lubricant to each gear. As I did this, I manually pushed the drawer in and out, to get the lubrication to spread out. If any of the lubrication ended up on the top or bottom of the gear, I wiped it off.

The whole procedure took 10-15 minutes. At the end of this time, the drawer opened and closed perfectly, with no chattering, no slowdown, etc. As of this writing, it operates as it did when I bought it back around 1990.

Bottom line: I was able to solve the problem without major surgery.